Unrecognizable
by Phaedairu
Summary: Hermione secures a position as a healer at St. Mungo's. She gets many patients with all sorts of problems, so she's seen almost everything. But one day a man is brought in, burnt beyond recognition, and she feels compelled to take care of him.


A/N: This is my first attempt at an actual Harry Potter fan fiction. Please go easy on me. xD I'm still working on things, but I would love to hear reviews on how to make this a better story, what is liked and disliked, etc. Thank you! :)

**Chapter One  
><span>Strangely Familiar<span>  
><strong>

Hermione stood over her latest patient, a man with a horrible case of spattergroit. She had been tending to him for over four days now, with hardly any progress to show for it. Afraid that she would lose him if she left, Hermione set up a cot in his room. That way she could get some sleep without having to leave his side.

After several grueling hours of muttering incantations and force-feeding the man a potion, the spattergroit finally started to clear up. It was small and barely noticeable, but Hermione had an eye for these sort of things. A smile lit up her face and she called some of her Healer friends in the room to tell them the good news.

As they were chatting and drinking butterbeers, a commotion sounded out in the hall. They rushed out to see what was going on and were greeted with an extremely burnt man being brought in by a few Healers. Hermione just stared in shock for a moment before rushing to the man's side and helping the other Healers get him to a room. She immediately began casting a few spells that she knew would help the pain and would make sure that he was asleep.

The other Healers transferred him over to an actual bed so that Hermione could get straight to work. She made it obvious by her body language that she was taking over this case. No one dared interrupt her while she was at work.

As she stood over the burnt man, she realized that the only thing not burnt were his eyes. The skin on the lids and around them was slightly pink but otherwise unharmed. Hermione's brow furrowed in confusion and she lightly touched the unhurt skin "Well…this is rather unusual. I wonder what your story is…"

She hummed a tune while she worked and was so engrossed with her healing that she didn't realize the time. Jumping up, she made sure that the burnt man was still asleep and went to check on her spattergroit patient. When she walked in the room, an older man that she didn't recognize was sitting on the bed. "Um…excuse me sir, but this room is off limits due to a patient with contagious spattergroit. Might I ask what you're doing in here?" The man looked at her confused for a moment and then smiled. "My dear, I'm the patient with spattergroit! Or shall I say, WAS the patient with spattergroit, thanks to you!"

Hermione almost couldn't believe her eyes! She must have been with the burnt patient longer than she thought for the spattergroit to be fully healed already. She smiled at the older man and went over to take his hand. "I'm so glad I was able to help. There's some potion that you need to keep taking for a few days, to make sure that it's completely out of your system." The man nodded and stood up. "Thank you, dear. I'll be on my way and out of your hair now. Oh, and I'm Horace. It was lovely to meet you." Hermione walked with the man to the front lobby to sign him out. "Well, Horace. I'm Hermione Granger and if you need anything at all, feel free to owl me anytime." Horace smiled and let the receptionist take over.

Leaving Horace at the front, Hermione rushed back to her burnt patient. She was anxious to see how he was doing and didn't like leaving his side. When she walked into his room, the first thing she noticed was that he was awake. He was twitching and trying to speak and his eyes, those unharmed eyes, were wide open. She rushed over to calm him down and found herself staring into familiar, piercing grey eyes. Hermione was confused for a second time that day, something that rarely ever happens. She could not figure out where she recognized those eyes.

Shaking her head, Hermione put the patient back to sleep and made up a cot in the room, just like with Horace. Although she had a strong feeling she'd be staying here for more than four days.


End file.
